


For Good Luck

by enbyred



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Season 3 Spoilers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and admire each other in the early morning light?, no, will i ever stop writing fics where they fall asleep in each other's arms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 16:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyred/pseuds/enbyred
Summary: [Spoilers for s3e1 leak]Rayla keeps Callum's scarf after escaping Sol Regem. She said that it brings good luck. It also apparently brings her to mull over her feelings.





	For Good Luck

It really did smell awful - both of them did, but they had gotten used to it over the past two weeks. They didn’t have the luxury of bathing regularly or washing their clothing when they were on a trek across the world to stop a war. It wasn’t like Rayla could pass judgment on Callum for how his scarf smelled.

She wouldn’t admit, however, that it didn’t bother her. It smelled like  _ Callum _ , and that was the important part. If they got separated, if they - she didn’t even want to entertain the thought - had to part ways after this journey, at least she had a piece of him with her. She had his awful smell among the soft fabric that warmed not only her neck, but her whole being, from head to toe.

There was no telling if she actually meant it when she said that she was keeping it “for good luck.” After all, it had gotten Callum away from Sol Regem alive. Maybe it was lucky. Who could know for sure? What Rayla knew for certain was that it was a piece of Callum that she was going to keep with her forever, no matter what.

He looked strange without it, she thought as she looked at him, asleep on the ground. For their two weeks traveling, it wasn’t like they had any spare clothes. Callum never even took his scarf off before their run-in with the dragon. It looked to her like a part of him was missing.

A part of him was missing because he had freely given it to her.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Rayla groaned, shifting to lay on her side, her back to him and Zym. She was never going to be able to sleep like this. Her brain didn’t seem like it was going to calm down any time soon, which meant no sleep for her  _ again _ . It was already exhausting to need to cross the Moonstone Path at night, and then spend the day running from a dragon. The last thing she needed was a sleepless night because she couldn’t stop thinking about the boy next to her as he slept soundly.

How in the world was this fair? He was fine before going to sleep. Nothing much seemed off about him; he was only a little shaken from a dragon trying to kill him. Which meant that she was the only one whose mind was so deeply affected by this. It wasn’t  _ fair _ . 

She shifted again, turning to face him, and brushing up against Zym as she did so. The baby dragon let out a startled squeak, looked at her through bleary eyes, and put his head back down to sleep. Absently, Rayla stroked the top of Zym’s head while glaring at Callum.

This was all his fault. She hadn’t felt like this about anyone since she was twelve and a girl her age was impressed when she saw her training with Runaan. She rarely felt the need to try to impress people or make them think highly of her. For most of her life, she didn’t much care what people thought. There was no point in trying to show off. It was a waste of time.

So why did she have to feel this way during the only time in her life when she couldn’t waste any time?

“You big, dumb human,” she breathed, hardly loud enough for herself to hear.

Maybe it was his fault. Maybe it was hers. Maybe it was his stepfather’s, or their high mage’s for putting the world on the edge of war in the first place. Maybe she could go so far back as to blame the first dark mage. If elves and dragons had never pushed humans out of Xadia, then none of this would have ever happened. If anything had happened just the slightest bit differently, then she and Callum would never have met.

Now  _ that _ was a thought she didn’t want to entertain.

It didn’t matter whose fault it was. Was there even anything for which someone could be at fault? Her feelings were a little messed up, and that was all. She couldn’t blame the war on any one person, and she couldn’t say that it was a bad thing that she and Callum were on this journey. It was the best thing that had ever happened to her.  _ He _ was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Careful not to disturb Zym, Rayla sat up and scooted closer to Callum. She hesitated for a moment, then laid on her side next to him. He was on his back, and she didn’t want to make it too weird, so she simply placed a hand on his shoulder, just to know that he was close to her, to feel him next to her. She already got to carry his smell with her, but it wasn’t enough. She just wanted to be close to  _ him _ . 

He wouldn’t mind if she stayed so close to him, she was sure. And luckily, being closer seemed to get her mind to slow down, if only by a margin. Within minutes, she found herself drifting off to sleep.

-

Light was barely peeking into their cave when Callum woke. As usual, the first thing he noticed was the ache is his shoulders from sleeping on literal rocks. The second thing he noticed, when he opened his eyes, was how close Rayla’s face was to his.

They were facing each other, her arm draped over his shoulder, and his around her waist. He had no idea when in the night she had moved so close to him, or how they had ended up in this embrace, but, despite the heat he felt creeping into his cheeks, he couldn’t say that he was opposed to it. 

The red fabric around her neck caught his eye. He wasn’t used to seeing his scarf on her, but something told him that he would get used to it pretty quickly. 

Good luck, she had said was her reason for wanting to keep it. His scarf was the reason they got away from Sol Regem, but he wouldn’t necessarily call that lucky. He would call it the fact that he smelled awful and a dragon could smell it from a mile away. But Rayla wanted to wear his scarf anyway. She didn’t exactly smell like roses either, and given his upbringing, he thought that it would bother him more than it did. His nose wasn’t as sensitive as he expected it to be. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t mind Rayla in particular.

The sun began to fill the cave, bathing them both in the warm, soft light of day. That meant that it was time to get up. It was time to wake Rayla, eat something, and finish their journey to return Zym to his rightful place.

But...her face was so peaceful as she slept, the sunlight reflecting off of her silvery hair, and her arm over him felt so natural, like it belonged there all the time, and his hand fit perfectly in her waist, like he was never supposed to let her go. Zym curled up between them was a tight fit, but a perfect one nonetheless. Everything, he realized as he laid there, was perfect. He closed his eyes for another few seconds, letting himself soak in the moment for as long as he could until they needed to continue their journey.

He couldn’t tell how much time had passed before he felt Rayla shift as she started to wake. He opened his eyes again and saw Rayla’s lavender eyes staring at him, wide through a sleepy haze.

“Sorry,” she whispered, averting her gaze and tensing, but not removing her arm from him. “I...I couldn’t sleep last night. So I decided to sleep closer to you. I didn’t mean - I wasn’t trying to…”

Callum gently bumped his forehead against hers and offered a smile. “Hey. It’s fine. Do I look mad about it?” Like he was subconsciously trying to prove his point, his hand on his waist pulled her ever so slightly closer, waking Zym, who gave a sleepy chirp.

She returned his smile, a little more relaxed, but a tinge of pink dusted across her cheeks. “I suppose not.” A conflicted expression passed on her face before she whispered, “We should get up. We’re so close to the dragon queen, and we need to finish the mission.”

Her words tugged at his heart. What would it mean for them when Zym was back home? He had to go back to Katolis and be with Ezran. Where would she go? Would she stay by his side? Would she pioneer peace in Xadia? Would she go and find her parents to live with them? There were so many possibilities, and so many of them involved the two of them separating. 

As she propped herself up on her elbow, taking the comfort of her touch with her, Callum’s hand instinctively reached out and tugged on the end of the scarf to urge her to lay back down.

“Just a few more minutes?” he asked, his voice small. “We...we don’t know how many more times we’ll have moments like this. Let’s make the most of it.”

An eternity of silence stretched between them, and Callum’s heart was pounding in his ears. But eventually, finally, Rayla lowered herself back down, just as close to him as she was before. She took his hand from the scarf and laced her fingers through his, keeping her eyes on their hands instead of on him.

“What do you mean, we don’t know how many more times we’ll be able to do this?” she asked.

Callum couldn’t look at her either now, and his heart sank in his chest. “Well, I, uh...I don’t know where you plan to go after all of this is done. I don’t know...if I’ll see you again.” His eyes flicked up to hers, just for a second, before looking away again.

She squeezed his hand. “Callum, I…” After taking a deep breath, her tone dropped, and even at their close proximity, he had to strain to hear her. “I don’t have anyone to go back to. My team is...probably dead. My parents and I haven’t seen each other in years. I don’t have any siblings, or any reason to go back to Xadia. If you and Ezran are okay with it, I’d like to go back to Katolis with you.”

The world stopped for a moment. The only thing in Callum’s consciousness was Rayla, Rayla, Rayla. Rayla coming home with him. Rayla staying by his side. Rayla fighting for peace with him and Ezran. Rayla continuing to wear his scarf. Rayla feeling as intensely about him as he was currently feeling about her.

That...was a new thought. But not unwelcome. He spared only a second to wonder when he had started to feel that way.

“The scarf is what did it, right?” Callum joked to divert his thoughts. “You’re wearing my scarf, so now you’re tied to me.”

She let out a light laugh and stroked the back of his hand. “Then I was right. It does bring good luck.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I heard about s3e1 and wrote this immediately. I've got more Rayllum I've been working on, but,,,,,,,,slowly. (maybe the new content will motivate me to write more lmao)


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